Location : Grand Peterhof Palace
Saint Petersburg.
A magnificent three-story building with galleries and sparkling gilding domes of the Church building and the building under the Coat of Arms stretched along the terrace for almost three hundred meters. The general idea of the location and initial appearance of the Upper (Upland) chambers belonged to Peter I.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, such outstanding Russian and Western European masters as I.-F. Braunstein, J.-B. Leblon, N. Michetti, M. Zemtsov, F.-B. Rastrelli, A.I. Shtakenschneider worked on the creation of the architectural appearance of the palace and on the design of its many chambers.
In the Petrovsky part of the palace, the Oak office of the first Russian emperor was preserved. The main element of the decoration of this small but cozy rest are oak carved panels created during the life of Peter by the talented French sculptor Nicolas Pinault. Here are the personal belongings of Peter I, among which are his travel hours of the work of the German master Johann Benner.
In the middle of the 18th century, during the reign of the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth Petrovna, the famous architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, an unsurpassed master of the Baroque style, created in Peterhof. The interiors created by the genius Rastrelli are characterized by an abundance of gilded wooden carvings, typeset parquet from different species of valuable wood, many mirrors and picturesque ceiling lights. The entire western wing of the palace is occupied by the Dance Hall or, as it was called in the XVIII century, the Merchant Hall. There is a legend that Elizaveta Petrovna specifically demanded that Rastrelli clean the room richer: “as much as possible to gut …”. The fact is that this hall was intended for the reception of eminent merchants who loved, according to the empress, gold.
The result of a two-hundred-year-old construction was a palace in which, next to the chambers of the Petrine era, the baroque halls of the middle of the 18th century shone, and solemn and austere apartments of the period of classicism were adjacent to them, replaced by the chambers of the middle of the 19th century, reviving the basic artistic principles of Rococo. The Grand Peterhof Palace was the summer center of the official life of the Russian Empire: many important events for the country took place here, holidays and receptions, balls and masquerades were held.
Today, the Grand Palace is a unique historical and art museum, the collection of which totals about 3.5 thousand exhibits. These are pieces of furniture, paintings, fabrics, lighting, porcelain that meet the tastes of the crowned owners of the palace.